


Funeral

by meikahidenori



Series: Thunderbirds are go AU [6]
Category: thunderbirds are go
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 13:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7716376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meikahidenori/pseuds/meikahidenori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a small bit after Jeff's funeral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Funeral

(Alan: 14, John 22 Virgil 20, Scott 24 & Gordon 19)

The funeral before the ride to the hotel was part of the worst night of Scott's life. All five brothers were now squished together in the one vehicle, all of them emotionally ready to explode at one another. He tried really hard not to show how frustrated he had been not with his siblings, but at himself. Scott, who was driving, occasionally glanced at his brother John in the front passenger seat hoping to see some sign of emotion but he wasn't going to be granted any... at least for now.

Also flicking a glance in the rearview mirror gave him another cause for worry. Virgil, who was in the seat directly behind Scott was also pretty impassive emotionally since the funeral, his eyes dark with a mixture of things Scott couldn't quite put his finger on.

Both of his brothers he knew did not get along with their father as much as everyone thought they should have. Sure, Virgil was favored over John, but the reality was their dad only did it because Virgil didn't care what their father thought of him and try as he might to get Virgil to see things his way, the big guy was never going to swallow it. So their father always played up towards his brother's sense of loyalty which in some ways had been abused in more ways than one, pitting him against his own siblings on occasion when their father was wrong about something or another and Virgil was forced to take sides.

Scott had to admit, when it came down to the nitty gritty though, Virgil would turn on their dad when it came to anything involving his older brother John. There was a huge reason for that, it was because out of anyone in the family, John was there for everyone – he backed you in a corner, he'd put his own life on the line to get you out of trouble and on a few occasions had managed to prevent Virgil from getting kicked out of University...amongst other things. Their father always butted heads with John and even at times when John was in the right, their father always tried to find a way to put him in a position where he had to sacrifice something to just make him do what his father wanted. Their dad knew John only wanted to protect his brothers and would do anything to make sure they were never in harm's way... which caused a lot of fights.

Both of them were their father's worst nightmare when push came to shove, and vice versa.

Gordon, on the other hand was like Scott. He could never do anything wrong in their father's eyes. Granted, Gordon had absolutely no idea how much both Virgil and John did for him in order for it to stay the status quo, so when the funeral had wrapped up Gordon was like a loose cannon and had fired all his artillery at them- specifically at John- who should have been in a position to have prevented their father's disappearance. Well almost anyway. Not much you can do when you have been stuck in space for at least a year all on your own without being allowed to be a part of the family and end up chronically ill because of it.

John didn't fight back, unless it was their father. He was pretty famous for that, usually waiting till the anger had died before speaking when it came to his brothers, but not this time. There had been no response to the explosion of hatred, no counter argument....he took every verbal fist without throwing any back.... and that made Gordon even angrier.

Alan had stood there and watched, and then started tearing into Gordon. Truth be told as much as their father tried to win the youngest over in the end all he managed to do was keep Alan fairly sheltered from the rest of the world and prevent him from spending time with his favorite members of the family. Their father at one time didn't mind Alan being looked after by John, but that was before he retired and was always busy with work. After that... he just wanted John out of the way, constantly telling both of them that John had been the worst influence and that Alan needed to grow up and stop relying on his brother. The only reason Alan was as smart and lively as he is was because John nurtured it where's their father without thinking about it seemed to repress it... not that Alan would have noticed.

Alan could have been torn into two worlds about it had it not been for the fact he had heard about the retrieval of John from Thunderbird five. International Rescue had been in full swing for about a year under their father's guidance and for that entire time John had been cooped up on the station alone with minimal contact with anyone other than their father. Managing communications from space? More like just taking phone calls and forced to sit around and watch. Their father prefered to have everything go through him which, while it was fine, made any skills John had that could be useful in tracking craft, keeping tabs on his siblings and other helpful things redundant.

Occasionally Virgil had hacked their father's communication channels to Thunderbird five to try and talk to him, but usually it was discovered a few hours later and needed to be re-hacked again. For a whole year any family function or down time was spent exiled in isolation. Alan had told Scott once that while John thought space was rather awesome and it was nice to be alone with your thoughts, you couldn't do it forever and needed to touch down on the ground, just to keep your sanity. Scott could validate that with the number of occasions he had spoken to his sibling while he was away from home in America where John needed to just hear the voices of his brothers around him, not necessarily talking to him, but around him just to remind him things were fine.

Being stuck up there with no one other than their father to touch base with had affected him and not in a good way.

It was clear he and Alan must have had a big discussion on the way down to the funeral home as Alan was pretty somber on returning and John was trying to hold himself together. Hearing their father's final moments was something that was going to haunt his brother's dreams for the rest of his life. After the relief of being able to take a shower after a year without being able to and spending weeks held up in the medical bay – John usually very finicky about hygiene, scrubbed himself till he was sore and red all over – he finally collapsed on one of the green couches in the living room, with Alan draped over him. His arms were around his little brother so tight that every time they seemed to relax, Scott had noticed they shifted till they got a better hold and the grip was tight again.

Scott knew the whole experience had left John terrified it could happen to anyone he was close to. You didn't need to have it said, it was visually there in his actions. Talking about feelings was something other people did and not John. In some ways Virgil was similar but at least he would voice what was bothering him if it concerned someone else. Gordon however never really caught the subtle hints unless they had been spelled out for him. Admittedly when Scott was mad himself he tended to miss them too.

He glanced at John again and felt himself sigh. With Alan and Gordon fighting with one another after the funeral, that's when John snapped. He never once shouted at anyone other than Scott before and that was when they were small... and Scott had deserved it for being a bully.

***

“Will you two knock it off!? Dad was a complicated man, good in nature and did what he thought was right, even if it meant alienating some of us because he thought it was going to be a benefit to us as a family on a whole. Sure, there were times where he was seriously wrong, but you can't fault the man for doing the things he did. I may have hated the man but I didn't want him to die either. It doesn't matter how it happened either or why, and regardless of how fast I acted to get you guys to his last known location can never change the fact we couldn't even recover his damn plane, let alone a body. He knew he was about to die, he didn't even panic on the damn radio signal from the plane! There was nothing we could have done., even if I was still on that damn stupid space station!”

John took a deep breath to calm himself down and fight back any other sort of emotion that was threatening to show itself. Gordon was about to start insulting John all over again when John grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. “I don't want to hear it,” his voice growled low and dark. “I have spent years being told that I was never good enough to be born into this family, years of pleading, years of begging to make sure you guys got the best of everything while trying to just prove to be good enough to be seen as a worthwhile son and not some waste of space. I don't need you or anyone else to call me useless because I'm pretty sure dad made that clear every single time he spoke, heck there's times you all do but I've gotten good at ignoring it... so just don't....don't...”

He let go of Gordon and walked outside. That was hours before Scott found him again wandering the cemetery in time to finally leave for the hotel. Scott remembered the distinct silence and look of stone on his brother's features when he found him right at the back of the graveyard in the rose garden for the cremated.

After a few minutes of silence, the tallest Tracy spoke.

“I can't do this Scotty. When we finally get home, I'm going to pack and leave the island. It would be better for everyone. Dad was right about me being completely useless and nothing to be worth being proud of. All I do is make everyone fight... I have to go.”

“You're not going anywhere John. And you're not useless. Dad failed to see you for what you really are and have been for a long time. It was his loss.” Scott put an arm on his brother's shoulder. “Dad thought he could run everything from the ground... and you can't. You need to be able to do it from a higher vantage point to get the full picture. I'm certain you can still do that.”

John snorted. “Seriously? To be able to do that Scott we'd have to reprogram every single Thunderbird and hotwire all communications back to the station so it's the central hub instead of dad's office. That's not an easy task, it would take Brains and I several months, minimum. Just the program for Thunderbird five to handle it alone would take a good month and a half and that's on a basic coding level... Then before the funeral me and Brains finally got to talking and thought we needed another craft... a stealth jet if you will... and maybe get Tanusha to pilot it-”

“What?” Scott was taken by surprise.

“Don't be like that, you know she wants a piece of the action and has been begging dad to be in on this whole affair. I may not have spoken to you at all directly for the past year but dad forget to turn transmissions off from time to time and I've overheard a great deal of things that I shouldn't have. She's a trained fighter pilot just like you and did a complete stint at the Global Defence Force. She'd make the perfect liaison officer for International Rescue and you know it.”

“Ok... fine on one condition?” Scott turned his brother around to look into eyes that looked tired and old for someone of his brother's rather young age. “That you stay onboard and you don't ever give up, not matter what. If one of us is in trouble you do your damn hardest to get another one of us out there to recover them or get your arse down from space to give us a hand. We need you John, without Dad, you have the most important job in the whole team and we need you to be able to be good at it. I believe in you and I bet the others do too... even silly little Gordon. I want to get Brains to rebuild Thunderbird five and make it a more functional space station and also provide a way on and off the station when we are unable to use Thunderbird three to get you down off there... and the other thing...”

Scott took a deep breath and held his brother's sides. “ I am going to make it a rule that you have to keep in contact with us when you're in space, like regular check ins... and at least spend one day a week on the damn planet with the rest of us. Can't afford to have the brains we need to do all these things to go stir crazy right?”

“You're layering it on rather thick aren't you?” John gave Scott a rather pained expression.

“If it keeps you from trying to run away then, yeah... I guess I am.” Scott forced a smile.

John rolled his eyes. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I saw your arms yesterday when I accidently walked into the bathroom when you were having a shower.... how long have you been still attempting self harm since coming down from there?”

“Since I could start walking around….. I'm still way too chicken to really go ahead with it though. Lucky for you guys....” John looked worried. “You're not mad are you?”

“No... not at you at any rate... dad however... is another thing entirely. You missed out on a lot of stuff when you used to get sick all the time... I didn't think it was fair that dad's mind set failed to change when you tried so hard to prove that you were not just some skinny sick kid.” Scott pulled his brother in close and gave him a hug. “You have me worried... Please don't do it anymore.”

He could feel his brother sigh. “I'll try. It's not going to be easy. Don't try to drug me up and maybe we have a deal.”

“Deal.” Scott squeezed his sibling tight. Scott knew their dad had been getting Brains to mix stuff into the horrible space food that the sent up to the space station, just enough to make his brother stay focused but not go entirely insane up there on his own. Scott had to admit after today that was going to stop then and now.... it was harming his brother far more than helping him.

“I'm still damn proud of you though. Heck your intelligence puts me to great shame most of the time!” Scott laughed. “Seriously though... when Virgil had all that trouble at university, who was it who got him out of it? And who was it who saved Gordon from drowning on more than one occasion and was there to cheer him on when he won that gold medal at the olympics in Toronto? Who was it who taught Alan to fly a damn rocket ship into space and used to dance and sing and play games with him around the house?... most importantly, who was the one person in this whole family who has the right to call me an idiot when I'm being a total utter butt-head?”

“You're really not that bad Scotty.” John let out a half hearted laugh.

Scott slapped his brother playfully. “Come on, you just got to survive a little longer ok? Gordon will eventually blow over and I think Alan was really worried about you. It's going to take a little time. We'll help you and Brains get these things in working order as soon as possible and get Tanusha into this whole operation properly so that when Brain's new machine is ready for action, she's all ready for it.”

**  
The silence in the car was eventually broken... by John of all people.

“Hey Gordon, how'd you feel about some serious drinking?”

“Huh?” Scott caught Gordon's confused expression in the rearview mirror. “Why would I want to drink with you?”

“Because I'm asking, you numbat. I'm sure I saw a really big bar and buffet at the hotel....”

“You're unbelievable! We've just gone to a damn funeral!”

“Yep.. I feel like drowning some memories. Want in?”

Alan started laughing. “I'd join you if Godon won't. But I have a problem... I'm underage.”

“That's fine we can get you some mocktails. They are pretty nice too and have fancier names.”

“Awesome.” Alan sounded excited.

“Tecnically I'm still under age here in the states.” Gordon said absently, forgetting he was annoyed with John for a minute.

“That's cool you're a duel citizen right? You still have your New Zealand driver's licence... I'm sure you can get away with it.” Scott could see John smiling to himself, entertaining the idea of trying to convince the bar staff his brother was twenty one. John liked a challenge, even if it was a rather dumb one.

“Can I be in on this?” Virgil asked, looking rather interested for the first time all day. “Mocktails for me too mind, I'm afraid I'm going to say dumb things if I get hammered.”

“Isn't that the whole point though Virge? We get drunk as hell, talk about the most stupidest things and because we are so pissed we forget about it the next day. Thought that was the plan here.” John said playfully.

Scott couldn't contain himself. He had to laugh. He had not heard John say something so devious and silly for a long time and really missed it. To him, hearing that meant trouble... and it was trouble most welcome.

“You up for it too Scotty? No wine or rubbishy stuff either.... Galliano or bust.”

“You are a demon in disguise sometimes John.”

“Your fault, you're the one with the devils phone number.”

“Sometimes I doubt that's true.”

“What on earth are you two on about?” Gordon frowned.

“Nothing.” they said in unision. Somethings were best left between them and not for their younger siblings to hear. Sometimes it was better not to let their other siblings in on the rather stupid, if not hilarious things the two of them got up to when the other's were not around. Mischief ran in the family afterall... last thing they needed was anyone getting ideas, both of which they had enough of from their father to last a lifetime.


End file.
